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Brief Synopsis

A private eye hunts for the talking bird that holds the key to a murder.

Reform mayoral candidate John M. Rhodes asks private detective D. L. Trees to find a talking crow owned by ex-convict Fred Molner and tells a complicated story to explain why he wants the bird: Rhodes is engaged to Molner's sister Dorothy. At the instigation of actress Mona Vance, Molner has demanded that Rhodes pay him to keep quiet about his prison background. Fearing that Rhodes may kill him, Molner has trained the crow to say "Don't kill me, Rhodes" and Rhodes is afraid that if Molner should ever be killed, he will be blamed for the murder. After Rhodes finishes the story, Trees goes to Molner's apartment where he finds Molner's dead body, a camera and a broken flash bulb. Shortly thereafter, Trees finds Molner's employee, Ray Hickey, unconscious in the kitchen. Then bookie Mitch Farrell arrives in search of $30,000 that he claims Molner stole from him. Trees calls the police and then goes to Mona's apartment. She introduces him to her lawyer, Mark Harper. Trees accuses Mona of operating a blackmail scam with Molner and she throws him out. Farrell and his boss, Coleman, are waiting for Trees at his office. They then proceed to search for the missing money, which they find hidden in a cigar box. Convinced that Rhodes planted the money in his office, Trees confronts him. Rhodes admits that he was at Molner's apartment, but insists that he was given a sleeping powder and woke to find Molner dead. Trees then makes a phone call, and after listening to the person who answers, sends Hickey to bring Detective Cramer to an address that he writes on a piece of paper. In the meantime, Trees goes to Harper's apartment and finds Mona there also. He reveals that Harper is a gambler, not a lawyer, and accuses Harper of killing Molner when the latter tried to double cross him. The missing crow is hidden in Harper's apartment. Harper and Trees struggle, but just as Harper's bodyguard is about to shoot Trees, Cramer and Hickey arrive. Mona tries to blame Molner's murder on Rhodes, but the crow loudly accuses Harper. After the police take Harper and Mona to jail, Hickey reveals that he has used ventriloquism to make it appear that the crow can speak.